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Israeli Officer Suspended for Beating Palestinian-American Teen

Video shows police assaulting cousin of murdered teen during protest

by
Stephanie Butnick
July 09, 2014
Tariq Abu Khder, a Palestinian-US teenager who was allegedly beaten during police custody, is hugged by his mother following a hearing at Jerusalem Magistrates Court on July 6, 2014. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images)
Tariq Abu Khder, a Palestinian-US teenager who was allegedly beaten during police custody, is hugged by his mother following a hearing at Jerusalem Magistrates Court on July 6, 2014. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images)

An Israeli police officer has been suspended in the beating of Tariq Abu Khdeir, the Palestinian-American cousin of murdered 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir, JTA reports. The assault, which was captured on video, occurred when Abu Khdeir was taken into police custody during a protest that broke out in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat after Muhammad Abu Khdeir’s body, which had been burned alive, was discovered in a Jerusalem forest.

The police officer, who hasn’t been named, faces a 15-day suspension and possible indictment.

The teen is visiting from Tampa, Fl., on his summer vacation.

In a video that garnered widespread attention internationally, Tariq is shown being pinned down by an Israeli border policeman while another office pummels him with his feet and kicks his head. The teen was seen in photographs after his arrest with a bloody face, black eyes and a severely swollen lip.



The ministry’s Police Investigations Department opened an investigation into the incident after the video came to light and went viral, the ministry said.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.